A Great Tribute to Mohd Rafi sahab by a Fan,He express his view about Mohd Rafi in a good manner we also admirer of Mohd Rafi.We include this article to give a tribute to Mohd Rafi : A Legend Singer,

I have always wanted to write about this man, the man who sang to us numbers that made us dance, cry, laugh, introspect, pray and above all, adore him. It was in school, I don’t remember which class I was in though, seems too long a time, when I first heard Rafi. He was on television singing for a child in Dosti. The song was b’ful. I still remember it, “Koi jab raah na paaye”. And thus began my journey along Rafi’s path.

In my home, it’s almost a tradition that everyone watches the television together. So, there was Rafi singing to the whole family and we were all mesmerised. Afterwards, I asked my father about it. He said that it was sung by Mohammad Rafi, the legendary singer who perhaps is the only Indian singer till date to have captured the hearts of millions of Indians and foreigners (and that is no exaggeration) for generations. In fact, he took out from his treasures some loose papers stapled together which had yellowed and faded and gave it to me and my sister. They were the songs sung by Rafi when my father was still a student. We went through the papers, prepared a new list and got the songs recorded. And we listened to the cassettes like crazy. We used to go to sleep with Rafi singing to us. Those were beautiful days indeed.

Born in Punjab (now in Pakistan) Rafi moved to Lahore when he was 14 to study music under Ghulam Ali Khan. He used to sing on Radio Lahore. His debut as playback singer in movies came in a Punjabi movie, Gul Baloch and later that year, he moved to Bombay. Naushad gave him his break in Indian films in Pehle Aap. When he sung “Suhaani raat dhal chuki” (Dulaari), his career took off like never before. I have listened to that song and it’s one of the slowest and melodious songs that I’ve heard. Those days Doordarshan used to air special programs from its archives. In such a programme, Rafi sang this song clad in a black Punjabi suit and an orchestra playing in the background. It was immensely enjoyable.

He sang with Noorjehan in Jugnu. He sang for Kishore Kumar in movies like Raagini, Baaghi Shehzaada and Sharaarat. Imagine Kishore, a singer himself, just moving his lips without a sound! I later came to know that the song in Raagini was so difficult that Kishore expressed his inability to sing the song which then went to Rafi, for classical singing was his forte. Heard, “Madhuban mein Raadhika naachere..“? And the song “Chahoonga main tujhe saanjh sawere” from Dosti which was originally to be sung by Lata Mangeshkar was given to Rafi by the producer as he felt that only he could do justice to that song. And his song “Baabul ki duaayein leti jaa” (Neelkamal) is still played in all marriage parties.

He perhaps had Shammi Kapoor as his favourite onscreen hero as Mukesh had Raj Kapoor. But there was perhaps not a single actor those days for who Rafi hadn’t sung. And in the movie Kroadh, Amitabh Bachchan sings on stage for this great singer (”Mohammad Rafi tu bahut yaad aaya“).

He was truly a versatile singer. From foot tapping to soul stirring, from fast numbers to slow duets, he sang them all. He never touched alcohol all his life but sang for drunks like Dev Anand (”Din Dhal Jaaye” in Guide) and Raj Kumar (”Chhoo lene do nazuk hoton ko” in Kajal). And who can forget the melodious “Aey dil muskil jeena yahaan” with Johny Walker giving an unforgettable performance onscreen?

Rafi gave his first public performance when he sang to keep the audience quiet when K. L. Saigal refused to sing on stage during a show becasue of a power failure. He was just 13 years old then. Composer Shyam Sundar heard him and brought him to Bombay. Rafi has even acted in films! He was part of the chorus in movies such as Laila Majnu and Jugnu. Rafi sang all the songs for Baiju Bawra by accident. Talat Mehmood, the original choice was caught smoking during the recording and old Naushad awarded all the songs to Rafi.
Rafi is known to have helped producers in need. He has sung for a fee as low as Re. 1. Unbelievable!

And though I love listening to Lata’s songs, I don’t very much like her as a person. Rafi and she were at odds for quite some time after giving out hits after hits as they had different opinions regarding royalty issues. Rafi was of the opinion that singers shouldn’t be demanding royalties as they were paid to sing a song. But Lata thought otherwise. I think Rafi was right, but then others are welcome to have their own views.

Rafi died in 1980, 8 years before I was born. We saw the recording of his funeral on the TV a few years back. The whole of Mumbai it seemed had come to a standstill. Shammi Kapoor who was abroad that time, rushed back to Mumbai. The crowd was so huge and teary eyed that people still say to this day that the entire nation stopped to weep for him. India not only lost a great singer but a great man as well. That a man who left this earth before I came onto, could influence me deeply surely seems a story. But isn’t. For people, those who have heard him, will surely vouch for it.